By now most people are aware of the licensing changes when Microsoft launches Windows Server 2012. If you are still not aware of the changes, I would encourage you to read the following two pdf files from Microsoft.
For enterprise customers, here are some points to take note.
- No more Enterprise Edition. There are only Standard and Datacenter Editions.
- No feature different between Standard and Datacenter Edition. All features in Datacenter Edition will be available in Standard Edition.
- The difference between Standard and Datacenter Edition is the level of virtualization density. Each Standard licence let you run two virtual machines while Datacenter let you run unlimited virtual machine.
- No more Server + CAL licensing for Standard Edition. The licensing will be based on Processor + CAL.
- Each licence (Standard and Datacenter) will come in two processors package. You have to use the licence on a server as a whole. You cannot split the two processors into two licences and use it on two servers.
- Cannot buy licence for virtual processor. The licensing is based on physical processors.
- If you are on Software Assurance (SA), you can upgrade Datacenter to Datacenter, Enterprise to two Standard licences and Standard to Standard.
- Version downgrade is possible but the new Windows Server 2012 rules still apply.
- The cost of the new Standard licence will be slightly higher. The cost for Datacenter should remain the same.
The list will probably get very long if I continue since every company will have different scenarios to cover. But I guess you get the general ideas of “charging by computing power”.
